A Guide to the Nests and Eggs of Southern African Birds

Warwick Tarboton

Struik, Cape Town
Paperback R195.95....Hardcover R249.95
ISBN: 1-86872-616-9
175x240mm, 432 pages

From his early interest as a schoolboy, Warwick Tarboton has personally found, observed and recorded information at some 12 000 bird nests! While the nests of some species may be conspicuous, the vast majority are well hidden and parent birds are masters in the art of camouflage, disguise and subterfuge. Only the most skilled and dedicated of naturalists are able to locate nests, and only the most patient and sensitive able to gather information without disturbing the breeding cycle. The author of this wonderful book is all these things, and in compiling this work he is sure to inspire a new generation of bird-watchers.

There are 722 bird species which breed south of the Zambezi and Cunene rivers, in the Southern African sub-region. Many of these birds make distinctive and often intricate nests, and many lay distinctive and beautiful eggs. This remarkable book carefully documents the known breeding behaviour and cycles of each species, with excellent colour photographs of nests or incubating birds for many of the species. The author has meticulously (and no doubt painstakingly) photographed the actual eggs of each species from museum and private collections, and this is a phenomenal achievement in itself. Most usefully, the egg photographs (they are deep-etched with several placed together on a page) are reproduced in actual size; an entire page is thus devoted to an ostrich egg, whereas another page has 33 eggs of waxbills and their kin.

The text takes the form of a species-by-species account, with nesting habits, types of nests and known breeding biology in terms of egg-laying months, clutch size, egg measurements, incubation period, and nestling/fledgling periods. The data has been gleaned from the published literature as well as from the author's considerable field experience.

In times gone by, it was quite acceptable to find and make collections of bird's eggs, but this practice is now illegal and anyway considered unacceptable by the vast majority of people interested in birds. For the modern naturalist, it is much more of a challenge - and much more interesting - to leave the eggs alone and monitor the breeding cycle of the bird. Valuable information can be obtained in this way, and there are few things more exciting and rewarding to watch the care and devotion provided by parent birds to their young as they grow up and fly off into the world. Tarboton promotes the view that bird-watchers should get to know birds by finding their nests and investigating their lifestyles - a return to old field craft, as opposed to the hurried 'twitching' of species on a list, which so preoccupies the modern-day birder. Sure, it is very possible to interfere with a bird's breeding cycle and do more harm than good, if one goes probing around clumsily, but there needn't be any risk if you are sensitive and careful. The introductory chapters of the book provide marvellous tips and techniques on how to find nests, useful equipment to buy or make, and how to record the information in the most useful way.

The book will quickly be an invaluable reference for everyone interested in birds and bird-watching, especially since the region's standard handbook - Robert's Birds of SA - is ten years out of date and only due to be reissued in 2002. Popular field guides such as Newman's and Sasol concentrate on identification of birds, with precious little information on breeding, so this new book is highly recommended as a companion.

- Duncan Butchart -

Posted: Birds by CC Africa, Date: 22 November 2006